Spray Foam Insulation for an existing house

[verizonbear]

Hello all! I was wondering if anyone has had spray foam insulation done on their existing house? I an thinking about getting it for my frame house built in 1960. First quote I got is 4200.00 for the exterior walls, any feedback would be helpful.

 

[norgeway]

I dont know about an existing house

But my Uncle put it in his new house in 77 and it has been great.

 

[wayupnorth]

I put that pink insulation in here 20 plus years ago and it has worked good. But if I could do it again, it would be spray foam. To work the best, it has to be sprayed from inside on the open roof and outside walls with no walls and ceilings. I think there would be too many places trying to go thru the outside to cavities it cant get to.

 

[jeb]

spray foam

I had it done to my late 50's ranch several years ago. I HIGHLY recommend it. It cut down on drafts, noise, and heating bill ! I am on a slab and it made the floors warmer too !! In the dead of winter I could never walk in my bare feet in the kitchen or laundry before insulation or risk frost bite- after insulation they are just cool on my feet. I paid about $1000.00 less but my house is small and I didn't do the wall between the house and attached garage, but that was at least 7 years ago. I did notice a drop in my heating bill but the noise reduction (can't hear anything but the loudest outdoor noise) and comfort level was worth it. I had already replaced the doors and windows a few years before. A three man crew came a 9am and by 3pm they were done. JEB

 

[arris]

spray foam

I have it in my house, I did it as I remodeled. I like it better than the fiberglass, it prevents drafts and the house is much warmer, I've also noticed that it seemed to strengthen the outside walls, I've noticed if very windy with gusts I don't notice it as I did prior. If I'm correct it is manditory in new construction in Florida to strengthen the homes during a hurricane. If you expect it to soundproof it won't, also there are 2 types open cell and closed cell. I forget which is which but one is used without a vapor barrier the other needs one. what I installed contains a fire retardant. just a word of advice if you install it you will never get the drywall or outside siding off, short of using dynamite. Make sure you don't plan on doing any modifications once it's done,one other point, if you have numerous venting appliances be careful your house will become very tight ,if you have a hot water heater or furnace that still vents up a chimney, several vented appliances running at once can create a negative pressure in the house causing make up air to come from the chimney into the house, bringing the Co2 from the furnace, hot water heater back in, it happened to me. One night I had the dryer, range hood and bathroon vent going, smelled something hot in the basement my co2 alarm went off. the make up air was coming from the chimney, and my hot water heater was venting in the basemant I opened a window and it was fine after that, other than limiting the number of venting appliances running at one time I prefer it over fiberglass... If you decide on having it done find out if it contains a fire retardant and if it's open or closed cell..

 

[delaneymeegan]

I applaud your desire to want to save oil or energy resources and make you home more comfortable.
The spray foam has to be done right or you can end up with an awful and expensive mess.
The video is from Canada where they actually have laws to protect consumers, and they have problems there. I can only imagine how bad it is in the U.S.

It would be better to buy Isco. foam board from a typical home improvement center, and cut it to fit your joist spaces. Then use typical spray foam in a can to seal the edges. You can DIY, and no chemical mess. The foam is mixed at the factory in precise 4x8 sheets. This is what I've done, and it works great.

Also, if you are doing walls and plan to remove the drywall from inside and insulate, after insulating those walls, add a few more uncut sheets to the inside of the studs, then build a 2x2 wall to hold that in place and apply your new wall covering to that. That would be SUPER insulation and it won't take much to heat your home.

In Germany they are doing super insulation and are literally heating their homes with light bulbs. It makes sense. Who WANTS to waste? Who wants to be uncomfortable? Who wants to be dependent on depleting oil resources? And think about it, when we get cold, what do we do? We add a sweater or a jacket. Same thing with the bedding. We add a blanket. Our houses are the same way.

Best of luck in completing your project.

http://https//youtu.be/K2ns7mXG_-E

 

[davey7]

I'm working on a roofing replacement project right now (disclaimer: work in architecture) and the spray foam a contractor proposed could not be installed adjacent to furnace flues or fireplace chimneys due to heat limit on the product so mineral wool was required around those. We're using foam at the perimeter and penetrations (full tear off and plywood deck replacement) for air sealing and cellulose elsewhere plus rigid polyiso above the wood deck to meet city required R-values. One issue I see (and hear a lot about) is that from time to time, spray foam, particularly in roof situations, can make tracing roof leaks impossible and cause rot in structural wood since they are encapsulated by the foam in some installations. This project was started due to poor roof cavity ventilation which caused condensation on the interior of the units.

If I were to build a house I would go for near passive-house standards (keep in mind passive houses and net zero energy are not the same thong, I mean thing, passive houses require energy to power the heat exchangers which are required because they are so tightly sealed) rather than net-zero which involves solar panels, etc (cliff notes version, there is a lot more to it than that of course).

 

[circlew]

You may want to consider foamed concrete insulation, as it's inherently fireproof.

The other types of foam should be covered by fire rated material (drywall, plaster on metal or rock lath) at all times. Exposure to flame will cause them to emit very poisonous fumes, that are also very corrosive.

Home | Airkrete - All Green Light Weight Cement Insulation!

The most environmentally safe, the only fireproof insulation on the planet, gives off zero noxious gases and odors, and is 100% pest and mold resistant!

www.airkrete.com

 

[g3bill]

In the 70's we remodeled a small house and used fiberglass in the walls but had a company blow in cellulose or guess its treated newspaper bits and it lowered the sound from jets plus keeps the place much cooler. Much easier to make changes if adding electrial and other things.

 

[davey7]

I was at a friends house when he had cellulose blown into one wall. It was cool to watch. He got a few leaks in the rooms with older finishes, but nothing major. But under one of his kitchen cabinets there was a surprise hole which let in a lot of insulation. He had a fun time cleaning it up.

 

[circlew]

Cellulose Insulation

My parents had our house insulated with this back in the early 70's. It was put in the walls, and added over the existing mineral wool in the attic.

The air handler for the air conditioning was located in the attic. All was good and dandy for several years until the condensate pan rusted out, and water leaked out. The cellolose insulation soaked it up like a sponge. We caught it quickly that time, and only had to remove a little. A little later, the condensate drain line cracked and leaked, and about 150 sq. ft. of the insulation got wet. It had to be scooped up with a coal shovel, and put in garbage bags. Not a fun job in an attic in June.

As part of the mold remediation, all the remaining insulation in the attic had to be removed, as it was contaminated with mold. They sucked it out with a large vac system. That had to be done before the plaster ceilings could be taken down.

I had to remove all the wall insulation when I started the full renovation, scraping it out into plastic bags.

I did a test to see if the fire retardent in the cellulose was still effective after 30+ years. I was able to get it to catch fire in the grill, so it does lose it's fire resistant properties after a number of years.

The product insulates well, but due to these drawbacks, I wouldn't recommend it. I think mineral wool (such as ThermFiber) is a much safer product.

 

[davey7]

A friends parents built a house in '64 which had absolutely NO insulation in the ceilings! And this was a custom / semi-custom house too! And in the NW Chicago burbs (my parents had a house from '56 which was well insulated, so it seemed odd to me) which even in that era was, well, cold. During the Energy Crisis they had, cellulose iirc, blown in - not very much either. Anyways, his mother ignored a roof leak and he went away for the weekend without telling her. He got home and had like 50 messages from her on their answering machine. There had been storms and the roof had collapsed as did the ceiling in his childhood bedroom and several raccoons had gotten in and taken up residence. She had to get a guy to tarp the roof and trap the raccoons. One remained and, once the roof was fixed and the bedroom isolated, chewed it's way out of a second floor eave vent. Anyways, we had to remove a lot of the, um, litter box insulation before putting in new fiberglass batts and drywall.

The moral of the story? Don't ignore roof leaks and any insulation can be problematic if you not maintain things. I can't find it now, but there are a lot of great pictures of how porous fiberglass batts with no vapor barrier are to air flow through attics - lots of dust gets trapped in it.

Somehow, I don't think cellulose was meant to be ignition on a grill proof.... *sounds like a fun test though*